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After formatting HD get error installing Windows 98

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Bobfromshokan

Bobfromshokan

Technical User
Jul 28, 2002
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I have a Dell that's a few years old with a 266 mhz processor and a 6 gig hard drive using Windows 95. The system started acting up with various erros; on boot up, after boot up, etc. I decided because there wasn't much information on it to format the drive.

I first booted with a Norton Anti Virus CD which didn't find any viruses. I then used FDISK to reformat and partition (I even deleted the MS DOS primary record.) When I tried to install Windows 98 I started getting weird errors so I decided to try another hard drive (8 gig) that I happened to have.

I was able to load Windows 98 on it and thought everything was great until I tried to upgrade to Win 98 se and started getting errors during the upgrade.

I went back and reformatted and set up the partition and tried loading Windows 98 again but now I can't even do that. The most recent error message was:

ERROR DURING WIN 98 INSTALLATION
APPLICATION ERROR
SUWIN CAUSED A GENERAL PROTECTION FAULT IN
MODULE KRNL386.EXE AT 0001:0488.

Is it possible this drive is also bad or could there be some other reason for these problems.

I should mention that initially the system would arbitrarily restart and then would not boot correctly after that and get random errors; I couldn't even boot into Safe mode. That's when I thought the hard drive was bad.

Robert
 
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The latest error I get when trying to install Windows 98 is:

W98 SETUP - AN ERROR HAS OCCURRED IN YOUR APPLICATION. IF YOU CHOOSE 'IGNORE' YOU SHOULD SAVE YOUR WORK IN A NEW FILE. IF YOU CHOOSE 'CLOSE', YOUR APPLICATION WILL TERMINATE.

The suggestion earlier to check the BIOS, I think, was a good one. However, I am unable to find most of the settings mentioned in the referenced document. I plan to go to the Dell site to see if there is an upgrade to the BIOS I don't have.

Robert
 
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Since my last post a few things have happened - mostly bad.

The Dell system is now at the point that shortly after POST and (I think) right when it's attempting to start the OS, the screen goes blank and there's a blinking cursor in the upper left corner of the monitor.

I am unable to use a Win 98 startup disk, boot from the hard drive or anything else.

In fact, I may have inadvertently done something to a friend's hard drive(s). He lent me a Compaq system to use while my system was down and an extra hard drive and after I was still unable to get the Dell to work proberly (I tried formatting the Dell hard drive and reloading Windows 98 se on the Compaq.)

I had to format and reload Win 98 se on the friend's Compaq hard drive and the extra one he lent me. When I did it looked like they were working properly in his system so I returned them to thim. Now he tells me - guess what - when he tries to boot up he has the same symptoms I have; the PC goes through POST and ends up with a blank screen with a blinking cursor in the upper left corner.

He also is unable to get his system to boot up using a Win 98 startup disk.

Is it possible there was something on the Dell system that could have caused all this and if so what?

Thanks,

Robert
 
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Sounds odd - specially as your friend's PC acting similar. You said at the top you virus scanned - did that include the MBR & boot sectors (these are areas which won't be affected by fdisking & reformatting)?
Boot sector viruses will infect other disks (hard & floppy) in the same machine - which might account for your friend's PC. If you have one - you'll need to scan all your non-write protected floppy disks too.

Also, have you considered hardware problems (faulty memory - if you've more than on stick installed, does it work with just one, overheated cpu, try removing sound card, network card, replacing graphics card...)

When you say can't boot using win98 startup disk, do you mean won't boot from the floppy or can't access the hard drive if boot from floppy? If the first, can you boot from floppy with hard drive disconnected?
 
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On your friend's , try this .
Start up with your Boot disc or Startup disk in ( without cd rom support )
At the A: prompt , type , sys c: and then press ENTER.

Take out the boot disk & restart your computer.

-----------------------------------

On your's .

Print this before starting .

Boot with the startup floppy and get to the A:\> prompt. Once there type fdisk /mbr. Do this several times to insure that it did its thing.
This command will clean out the mbr fully.
Now type format c:/s .
Next ,Fdisk and format , your hard drive . Do not reboot your system but run fdisk /mbr .
Then reboot your system .
 
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Well, the problem is back. I hadn't used the Dell system for a while and I thought the problem was resolved but it isn't.

To cut to the chase here's the current situation. I have tried just about everything that was recommended in the earlier posts to fix this problem. I just did the following again:

fdisk /mbr
format c: /s
Booted with a Windows 98 startup disk.
Tried installing Windows 98 OS.

What happens (right now anyway) is when the Win 98 Setup starts the screen seems to freeze. The 'action' bar for setup stops going across the screen at varying times - the last time at about 4%. The mouse is still active.

If I try to re-ipl and install W98 again I get errors and have to end up reformatting the HD again.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Robert
 
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1. Did you virus scan the mbr? (from a write protected set of rescue disks, written on a clean PC).

2. If there is a virus check in bios, is it diabled? (enabled can interfere with windows install)

3. Once we can definitely discard virus, I'd suspect hardware. How many sticks of RAM? If more than one, try to install with just one in place (try each in turn). If just one, get a stick which is working elsewhere to try.

4. If not RAM, try removing non-essential cards (modem, network, sound etc) and drives - CD writer, zip etc). Try installing again. If ok, put back one at a time. If not the problem, try swapping out the graphics card.

5. If still no joy, can you slow down processor speed (in the bios or jumpers/switches on the mobo)? Also, can you run the RAM at slower speed?

I haven't mentioned PSU (as more ap roblem with newer machines).You have checked inside case - fans running ok, eg, CPU hasn't been part fried?
 
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You may need to use this .

Freeware .
WIPE OUT : as the name implies, this utility will absolutely WIPE your hard drive. For those
times when an industrial strength cleaner is needed to remove any pesky files Fdisk may have
left behind. A readme file is included in the zip file. WARNING...WIPE OUT will remove ALL data
from the Hard Drive.
 
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I installed and ran 'Wipeout' on the Dell.
I did what the README file said to do:

WIPEOUT C: /nq /np

I then ran FDISK and reformatted the hard drive (Re-IPLing after each.)

I then tried to install Win98 - ScanDisk ran with no errors.
The following messages came up:

PLEASE WAIT WHILE SETUP INITIALIZES.
SCANNING SYSTEM REGISTRY.
COPYING FILES NEEDED FOR WINDOWS SETUP.

The PC then went to the E:\> prompt (where my CD ROM for Win98 is) and that was it; Win98 never installed.

What are the proper steps after running 'Wipeout?' What did I miss?

Thanks,

Robert
 
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Bob,

Please read my last post. Wiping the hard drive is NOT necessarily the answer - and after your last post, I'm sure its not. Hardware still my guess (apart from - see my PS).

PS. Did you write protect the floppy you ran wipeout/fdisk from (as if you do/did have a boot sector virus, it could have infected the floppy otherwise & reinfected the hard drive when you rebooted after fdisking to format). And were the floppies definitely clean in the first place?
 
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Maybe if you have another operating system like w95 to try , this may isolate the problem .
 
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Try checking/replacing your cmos battery, clear and reset your cmos and then start over with a new partition and format. A failing cmos battery during drive prep will also
compound problems such as yours.
 
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I replaced the battery.

I then partitioned and formatted the hard drive. I then tried to install Windows 98 from a CD. The first thing the software did was to run ScanDisk - which ran error free. It then did some kind of registry setup and I thought it was about ready to install the OS but instead I heard one beep and got a bunch of unreadable characters, roughly 8 lines of code and the system ended up back at the E:\> prompt (where the CD was.)

Before I installed the new battery I had run a program called 'Wipeout' to try to remove anything from the hard drive. I only ran it once and that was a few days ago. I don't know if that would have anything to do with what's happened since then.

I noticed when I ran the program 'Wipeout' at that time, that a similar thing happened where instead of the OS being installed, I ended up back at the E:\> prompt which had never happened before.

Thanks for any help.

Robert
 
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Make sure virus detection is disabled in the cmos and
try a new bootdisk. Also make sure your memory count size at post is correct also.
 
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I know you are frustrated here by now.
An issue that I have not seen mentioned by you. Did ytou clear out the protected buffer on all proprietary computers.
Dell, Compaq, HP, IBM-all come with failsafe/default-reboot partitions-that holds OS/drivers for thir computers.
In other words though you may be trying to load on the new os-the buffer is trying to set up old os.
so you need to-fdisk
use 4-see all of your partitions.
3 delete extended partition
3 delete primary partition
1create new partition
4 check to see that only 1 partion exist
escape
reboot
 
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I have not been able to locate any Virus setting in the CMOS. If there was any, what would it look like?

In the meantime, I'll go back again in FDISK and try the suggestion from lewat but I've repartitioned so many times and I don't think there was an extended partition.

There's something else also. I looked at the DMI (don't have any idea what that stands for) event log in Setup and there are four entries - wich never seem to change by the way - and they are:

Pre-Boot Error: Memory Size Decreased
Keyboard Not Functional
CMOS Checksum Error
CMOS Checksum Error

I tried loading in W95 with the same results as W98 - that's W98 not W98SE.

Robert
 
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These are very good .

 
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You mention earlier a failed upgrade attempt from WIN98 to WIN98SE assuming you have a upgrade disk for WIN98SE. TRY doing a clean install from it rather than plain old WIN98. Have a WIN9x full version disk handy it will ask for it so it may verify ownership. Also have you tried copy cab files to hard drive then install your CD ROM may be going out.

OH well just my 2 cents.

Jim

PS from what have read IT IS HARDWARE problem.
 
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Fdisk the format the Drive 2 times
start of with a new master boot record
and install window
 
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